Increasingly in the world of mobile devices two trends have manifested themselves: a desire for increasingly miniaturized devices and a desire for greater and broader degrees of functionality. Unfortunately, these desires are often antithetical to one another, and create a number of tensions in the design and implementation of these mobile devices. One of these tensions is the balance that must be achieved between the power supplies utilized by these mobile devices, and the functionality of the radio frequency (RF) transceivers which frequently provide communication capabilities for the mobile devices.
As a switching regulator typically draws less power than a linear regulator, switching regulators are generally the preferred solution for power conscious applications. Typically, a switching regulator is used to regulate power to the digital logic of a mobile device, while a linear power supply is used to regulate power to the RF circuitry of the mobile device.
However, the switching activity of these switching regulators creates RF radiation which can interfere with the RF circuitry of these mobile devices by creating RF noise that impacts the RF signals received and transmitted by the device.
Thus, a need exists for methods and systems in which efficient power regulators can be used in conjunction with mobile devices where the power regulation will not interfere with the RF functionality of the mobile devices.